Fly Guys: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This is a color archival pigment print from the negative. The photograph depicts a full-length image of two men posing, both slightly turned to their left. The man on the left is standing on a bench with his hands crossed. He is wearing a mismatched tracksuit with an orange jacket with white stripes down the sleeves and green pants with a red stripe down the leg. The man on the right is standing on the ground with his hands in his pants pockets. He is wearing a matching, solid red tracksuit and a red turtleneck underneath. Both men are wearing low-top Adidas sneakers, necklaces, Cazal-like glasses and caps in the style of a Kangol Ventair.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 2000; printed 2021
• Photograph by: Jamel Shabazz, American, born 1960
• Subject of: Unidentified Man or Men
• Type: pigment prints
• Type: portraits
• Medium: pigment-based ink on paper
• Dimensions: H x W: 14 × 11 in. (35.6 × 27.9 cm)
• Place depicted: Manhattan, New York City, New York County, New York, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Fashion
• Topic: Hip-hop (Music)
• Topic: Photography
• Topic: Urban life
• Object number: 2021.63.7
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture purchased with funds provided by the Smithsonian Latino Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Latino Center
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The underlying object's rights statement is: © Jamel Shabazz Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.